Moriah… part 9

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Here are a couple of photographs showing the log cabin of Moriah as she was this past Christmas, now serving the home as a dining room.

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The third photo of the room (unfurnished) shows all the natural light pouring in from the new kitchen… we’ll go into that room tomorrow. 🙂

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One final thing I’d like to point out as we leave this room…

I changed the exterior door from a nice solid wood door to one that had glass panes in it to let in more natural light. That was a tough call for me to make. It would have been more historically accurate to have left the solid door, but I thought the newer door looked fine once installed and it certainly added more light to the room. Thoughts?

Originally posted 2015-04-03 16:20:28.

Moriah… part 92019-06-29T10:13:14+00:00

Moriah… part 8

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I nominate this ktichen for the title of…

“The Worst Kitchen Ever”…

What went wrong?

It was built by wealthy individual, with an unlimited budget, who hired a world renown architect, and was built by a quality builder.

The kitchen was located in the physical center of the home and it’s cabinetry was made out of expensive, rare, wood. There was a Viking gas stove and a Sub Zero refrigerator.

How could this have gone so wrong? Given these ingredients I could have produced a kitchen that would have been featured on the covers of multiple home magazines.

So, what happened?… they broke Rule Number One… “Never, ever, build a modern kitchen inside of an old log cabin”. The two, are polar opposites.

A log cabin is place of security, warmth, calmness… a place of retreat from the hectic the world we live in. Log cabin’s make great dens, bedrooms, dining rooms, even a home office. A kitchen on the other hand is a place of energy, of activity, of noise, and creation.

And, a log cabin is a naturally dark place. I have to employ techniques when I build to brighten them as much as possible… such as painting the ceiling boards between the floor joists. Here we see the addition of natural finish cabinetry has turned this place into a cave.

A kitchen should be bright… full of natural light, with tall ceilings and plenty of windows. If you have to turn a light on every time you enter the kitchen something is terribly wrong.

One final thought… if you want a log cabin as part of your home, why would you want to cover those logs up with cabinetry?

So, when I rebuilt Moriah I reused those heart pine kitchen cabinets in the garage. Yes, this house has one mighty fine storage area for tools.

I chose to convert this log room into a dining area… now the center of this home is the place the family gathers to feast. And the kitchen… well, I created a new one in an adjoining room… one that is full of light.

Originally posted 2015-04-03 15:59:22.

Moriah… part 82019-06-29T10:13:13+00:00

Moriah… part 7

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Here’s a “before and after” set of photos taken of one corner of Moriah’s log cabin. Let me point out the improvements that I made… at least I think they are improvements… lol…

… Of course there are the changes that I pointed out in a previous post with the addition of the mantle piece on the fireplace, and the replacement of the brick floor with hemlock flooring…

But, also notice that the previous build of this home had this half of the log cabin feature a cathedral ceiling all the way up to roof of the second story. (oh so 1970’s) I closed this area in with old hewn floor joists to create a more intimate space, that was also now once again historically accurate, and in doing so I created the added bonus of a whole new room on the second floor.

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I did power wash all the old logs which removed the flaking “white wash”… I felt that, in this home, that the old paint finish created a “dirty look”… I was after refinement here. The white wash might have been old, but the earliest finish these logs had was nothing at all.

What do you think? Which look do you prefer?

Originally posted 2015-04-03 15:03:53.

Moriah… part 72019-06-29T10:13:12+00:00

Moriah… part 6

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Moriah… part 6

Here’s a “before and after” photo of the log cabin fireplace. I felt that a more formal fireplace mantle would be more attractive than the crude stone work that was originally found here. I also changed the flooring from the original brick that was used and instead installed hemlock flooring from another room.

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Since the large fireplace opening was already made I realized the chance of me finding a perfect size antique mantle would be nearly impossible so I designed and built this one from scratch using antique heart pine.

What do you think?

Originally posted 2015-04-02 22:24:42.

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Moriah… part 5

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We changed the home’s name, from Mariah (named for it’s previous windy site) to Moriah (named for it’s new site… where she now appeared to be sitting on a mount, when viewed from the river out back)

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We figured it was an appropriate change… the house was very similar to the original, yet different… just as the name was now.

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Here are a few photo’s of the exterior just as the re-built house had gotten it’s new coat of paint, and yet before the landscaping, outbuildings, and the interior were finished.

Originally posted 2015-04-02 22:09:42.

Moriah… part 52019-06-29T10:13:10+00:00

Moriah… part 4

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So, I took Mariah down and put her into storage for a year while I looked for a place to put her back up. I found a great spot, about 10 miles from her original location, with frontage on the north fork of the Rivanna River and a view of the waterfall as it comes over the local mill’s dam.

Here’s a photo of her “back-side” as she was being re-erected.

It was about this time that someone left a note on the construction gate telling me that I was putting up the biggest eyesore that they had ever seen. That was a bit discouraging to me at the time. (I wonder what they thought of the finished home…)

Before and after photos of the home starting tomorrow… please, stay tuned!

Originally posted 2015-04-02 18:04:07.

Moriah… part 42019-06-29T10:13:09+00:00

Moriah… part 3

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I found Mariah’s exterior profiles to be beautiful… and I felt that this design would likely always be viewed that way… timeless. To throw this house in a hole and burn it would have been a crime.

Inside she was a treasure trove of materials… an early 1800’s hewn oak cabin, wide plank heart pine floors, huge ceiling beams salvaged from a Shenandoah cotton mill, beaded hemlock paneling, and custom made doors, windows, and other hand crafted mill-work.

But the interior layout and design was just awful and severely outdated. Picture if you will, a 1970’s version of a rustic National Park rental cabin, complete with sunken rooms and wood paneled bathrooms.

This was going to be a major challenge.

But luckily, I like challenges. 🙂

Originally posted 2015-04-02 17:42:30.

Moriah… part 32019-06-29T10:13:08+00:00

Moriah… part 2

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Mariah was a legend among area builders and others that lived in Albemarle County.

She was the first of her kind, built with no expense spared, and on a windy panoramic hilltop. That wind, is how she got her name… from one of those musical Westerns about the wind being called Mariah.

Back in 1976 when she was built, there were no McMansions. There were mansions, and there were the homes the rest of us lived in.

And then Mariah was built… rich, but not ostentatious. Warm and inviting.

The 70’s was a unique time in the field of construction, young people flooded the construction trade wanting to create something with their own hands. And, for the first time salvaged materials, historic designs, and traditional methods of building were once again valued.

Mariah was a starting place for a many young artisans who would go on to gain local, and even world-wide, acclaim for their skills as the years passed by.

Originally posted 2015-04-02 17:12:38.

Moriah… part 22019-06-29T10:13:07+00:00

Moriah… part 1

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“Mariah”

This photo was taken the day that I learned that she was scheduled for demolition.

I had received a phone call asking me if I was interested in salvaging any materials out of “a house in Western Albemarle County”. When I learned that the house was Mariah I sat up an appointment to see her right away.

Rather than choosing to salvage her for various materials, I undertook the responsibility of removing the entire house, piece by piece, from her current site and then rebuilding her elsewhere, better than she had ever been.

Let me tell you about that project… The whole story would take weeks… but, I promise to condense it down…

Originally posted 2015-04-02 16:42:24.

Moriah… part 12019-06-29T10:13:06+00:00

Log Home of the Year

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I have received hundreds of phone calls over the years asking me to come repair a “log cabin kit home”. And, I have witnessed some real disasters with these structures just a year or two after they were built.

I have turned them all down.

But, I am embarrassed to admit, that I once built a log cabin kit home, just once. I so regret it. I would never do it again.

That cabin was made by a well-known firm in that genre that “handmade their cabins one at a time”.

By the time I was halfway through the project I regretted ever having played a part in putting something up like this structure. It is today an eyesore on the landscape. Of all things… it won “Log Cabin of the Year” by Log Cabin Living magazine.

And no, I will share a photo of it. I’m not even certain I saved an image of it. To this day I still turn my head when I drive down that road. It’s a good thing that private individuals in this country are not allowed to own grenade launchers. If so, that cabin would be gone.

Isn’t that interesting? That the one log cabin that I most regret building was chosen as the greatest by the trade’s leading publication?

So, why did I do it? Why did I accept the offer to build this home? I did it because I saw that it was inevitable, these clients were going to build this home regardless of whether I took it on, or if it went to someone else. I thought that throughout the building process that perhaps I could steer the project towards something more vernacular… I was wrong.

After that project I would do my best to supply folks with alternatives. I found that I could easily compete with the price of a kit…. which sort of shocked me… That I could create a cabin using their “odd plans” (one had five corners) and old barn logs that I would acquire, and then create something much more attractive and durable.

I only did this three times, but I felt like I had done penance for my sin.

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Originally posted 2015-04-01 16:27:01.

Log Home of the Year2019-06-29T10:13:05+00:00
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